GC 2008: Overlord II on the Way

Share.

The minions are preparing to run amok once more.

By Erik Brudvig

Overlord, an original game by Codemasters, won over fans with its creative blend of humor and Pikmin-style gameplay and then went on to sell over a million copies. The call for a sequel was heard loud and clear and now Triumph Studios is hard at work with the title due out in 2009 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Games for Windows PC. To go along with this announcement, Codemasters has also revealed Overlord Dark Legend for Wii and Overlord Minions for DS. For details and screenshots on those titles, head over to stories here and here respectively.

Overlord II, "massively increases the scope of the original concept," according to Lennart Sas, director and Overlord lead at Triumph Studios. The game introduces a new Overlord, hinted at in the final scene of Overlord: Raising Hell, for a clash between him and a Roman-inspired empire which has plans to root out all magic and take over the world. The game moves beyond the fantasy realm of the first to something closer to our own, allowing the game's humor and satire to hit closer to home. Politics, environmental issues and more are up for parody in this game, though we wouldn't be surprised if a fart joke or two slip in.

New environments and new beasts are coming.

With the Glorious Empire as the foe and a new overlord brought into the fold, you can be sure you'll be seeing a more diverse set of environments. Sas told IGN, "We have new lands, from the icy (but rather festive) Nordberg where minions face up to vicious seals, to a new Magic Sanctuary Domain, where the magical creatures have retreated from the onslaught of the Empire, to the homelands and cities of the Glorious Empire itself."

The first Overlord game relied on a gameplay mechanic where you directly controlled the overlord who then orders around small legions of minions to solve puzzles and attack enemies. This style of game returns, but is expanded and improved for the sequel. Sas tells us that, "from the Netherworld you rise to gather an army of loyal Minions that are more destructive and much smarter than before -- now they can do even more things for their master; such as riding mounts, using war machines and sailing warships in world-changing battles." He also told us the team has "greatly improved" the controls and visuals to make the game even more attractive to a broad audience.

Minions can now ride mounts.

"We're really excited about shifting the world to a new era where a Roman-inspired Empire rises as the arch-enemy of the Overlord," says Lennart Sas, "which leads to an epic clash between the regimented forces of a sprawling state and the faster, harder, more manic minion horde."